Close
0%
0%

NekoCart - CPLD Gameboy Cartridge

Open-source Gameboy Flash Cartridge using an Xilinx CPLD as MBC

Wenting Z.Wenting Z.
Following
Liked Like project

Just one more thing

To make the experience fit your profile, pick a username and tell us what interests you.

Pick an awesome username
hackaday.io/
Your profile's URL: hackaday.io/username. Max 25 alphanumeric characters.
Pick a few interests
Projects that share your interests
People that share your interests

We found and based on your interests.

Choose more interests.

OK, I'm done! Skip
Similar projects worth following
789 views
6 comments
9 followers
likes
View Gallery
There are tons of MBC5 flash cartridges out there, but all need you to salvage a MBC5 from an original cartridge. But luckily, MBC5 can be implemented with CPLD fair easily, so here it is.

A simple game boy flash cartridge supports MBC1\5 games.

Source files can be found in the GitHub repository.

  • 1 × Xilinx XC2C32A CPLD
  • 2 × 74LVC245A Logic ICs / Receivers, Transceivers
  • 1 × MX29LV640BB Memory ICs / FLASH Memory
  • 1 × CY62128EV30L Memory ICs / Static RAM (SRAM)

  • Working!

    Wenting Z. • 02/01/2018 at 22:06 • 3 comments


    I will post more information later :p

  • Flash ID & CFI read correct

    Wenting Z. • 02/01/2018 at 13:10 • 0 comments

    I am able to read out the Flash ID and CFI table now with the modified GB cart flasher!

    I am using a MX29LV640 in 8bit mode (since native 8 bit flashes are hard to find or too expansive nowadays). It turns out that though 8bit mode is enabled (means an additional A0 bit), the device is still expecting the address for things like CFI appears on the original 16bit mode address bus which is A[x:1] instead of A[x:0] for the 8bit mode address bus. And I also had some soldering issue, took me several days to debug and find out what it going on. But now it is working! (As you can see, 51 52 59 represents "QRY" which is the start of the CFI table, and other things well match the datasheet)

  • Prototype is living.

    Wenting Z. • 01/24/2018 at 18:32 • 0 comments


    Debugging in progress.

View all 3 project logs

Enjoy this project?

Share

Discussions

Jeremy g. wrote 02/03/2018 at 01:03 • point

the usb is attached to a 64 pin samd21. the pins are directly passed through too the ROM and ram as well as the header. to download games via usb and have direct controll over the header and ROM from fw. 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Wenting Z. wrote 02/03/2018 at 18:46 • point

Wow that is a pretty interesting design! Would you mind if I do the same for my next revision of cartridge?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jeremy g. wrote 02/03/2018 at 21:58 • point

I don' mind go for it. :) 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jeremy g. wrote 02/03/2018 at 00:23 • point

Looking, good. I've been working on one as well. I need to finish it. If your interested checkout my site. Haven't had time to put it up on hackaday yet.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Wenting Z. wrote 02/03/2018 at 00:42 • point

Wow cool. I have checked out your design, may be I didn't read careful enough, but what does that USB and QFN chip do?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jeremy g. wrote 02/03/2018 at 01:03 • point

... forgot to hit reply. see above ^

  Are you sure? yes | no

Similar Projects

582
4
5
Building on the work of dankar, I wondered if his code could be ported to the ESP8266. It could. Then I added features.
Project Owner Contributor

ESP8266 Altair 8800b Emulator, Telnet Support

Steve LSteve L

9.9k
27
28
Create and flash new firmware for the WeMos D1 Mini Motor Shield.
Project Owner Contributor

Motor Shield Reprogramming

ꝺeshipuꝺeshipu

3.2k
10
11
Reverse engineering process for a 68332 based system
Project Owner Contributor

Beckman DU600 Reverse Engineering

joe.zatarskijoe.zatarski

Does this project spark your interest?

Become a member to follow this project and never miss any updates

Going up?

About Us Contact Hackaday.io Give Feedback Terms of Use Privacy Policy Hackaday API

© 2019 Hackaday

Yes, delete it Cancel

Report project as inappropriate

You are about to report the project "NekoCart - CPLD Gameboy Cartridge", please tell us the reason.

Send message

Your application has been submitted.

Remove Member

Are you sure you want to remove yourself as a member for this project?

Project owner will be notified upon removal.